updated 2/07/04

What is a clavichord?

SHHH!!!! I can't hear what I'm playing, turn off the computer fan, don't talk, close all the windows I'm trying to play something on my clavichord.

This has to be the most quiet keyboard instrument in its highly refined class. It is shockingly quiet. It is so quiet that if two people are standing behind me talking, I can't hear what I'm playing. So why get this little guy that I can barely hear? Because the SOUND, the sound is a delicate whispy magic sound. Little sparklies in the air. You have to play one in person to really hear what I mean. It is intimate. It is a response to how we life today. Instead of competing with TV, the neighbors, passing cars, and stereos; the clavichord forces you to mellow out. Your hearing gets very sensitive. There is a whole dynamic range of expression and when you touch the keys it immediatly hits the strings with something resembling the end of a flat head screwdriver. This is all done directly with a simple lever. You can't press down more than a few millimeters and once you make contact with the string you have to hold the key down to keep the string in motion. This gives one an additional performance possibility: vibrato also known the bebung.

Specifications:

2  8' choirs of strings
range: low C to high F
tuning: A=415 non-equal temperment 1/6 comma mean tone

Our clavichord has been on order for a few months now. Gary Blaise of San Francisco is building it for us.

As of January 2004 Gary has built the basic housing and made some of the medium sized wooden parts, started to stain the cherry a gorgeous red, and has the block cut that will be the keys/levers.

Click the thumbnails to see the building in progress.